Atom Araullo Filipino Journalist From Quezon City

Early life

Alfonso Tomas Pagaduan Araullo, known as Atom, was born on 19 October 1982 in Quezon City, Philippines. He is the youngest child in his family and its only son. His parents were involved in political activism, and he grew up with the country's political struggles as a backdrop to his early childhood. They also encouraged him to take part in sports and theatre, and as a young person he appeared in several stage productions and entered triathlon competitions.

He completed elementary school at Ateneo de Manila University and attended the Philippine Science High School Main Campus. At the University of the Philippines Diliman he studied applied physics and earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He was active in student politics there as a member of the League of Filipino Students and as chairperson of the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights at UP, known as STAND-UP. In the 2003 University Student Council elections he won a councilor's seat with the largest number of votes among the candidates.

Career

Araullo was already working in television as a child. He was part of the children's programme 5 and Up, produced by Probe Productions, in 1992, and in his youth and early adulthood he hosted a number of shows, among them the Studio 23 morning programme Breakfast, the National Quiz Bee, Kabataan Xpress, Basta Sports, and Kalye: Mga Kwento ng Lansangan.

His news career began in 2004 at GMA Network, where he presented a sports segment called "ATOMic Sports" within the newscast 24 Oras. He moved to ABS-CBN in 2005 and hosted the programmes Red Alert and Umagang Kay Ganda. He also reported for the network's flagship news broadcasts and its news channel, and his radio work included Red Alert sa DZMM from 2013 to 2017. In late August 2016 he confirmed that he was stepping away from his reporting duties on TV Patrol, Bandila and the ABS-CBN News Channel, saying he wanted to explore other opportunities. He left ABS-CBN altogether in September 2017.

That same month Araullo returned to GMA Network, this time to concentrate on documentaries. His first project there was Philippine Seas. Within a few months he had joined I-Witness, the network's long-running documentary programme, and in 2018 he began hosting his own monthly series, The Atom Araullo Specials. In January 2021 he and Maki Pulido were named anchors of the newscast State of the Nation, taking over from Jessica Soho, who had announced her retirement from the programme at the end of 2020.

Beyond news, Araullo wrote and acted in Mike de Leon's film Citizen Jake (2018), playing the son of a senator who becomes a citizen journalist. In 2025 he published his first book, A View From the Ground, which recounts his experiences as a reporter.

Recognition

An episode of The Atom Araullo Specials titled "Munting Bisig" won a silver award in the human concerns and social issues category at the Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards. The same episode was honoured in the social issues category at the 2022 New York Festivals TV and Film Awards and received the prize for best Asian documentary at the Asia Contents Awards. On 21 November 2017 Araullo was given a star on the Eastwood City Walk of Fame.

Public roles

Araullo serves as a national Goodwill Ambassador in the Philippines for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He received the title after travelling on missions to meet displaced families in Mindanao, Bangladesh and Jordan. He also speaks publicly in support of environmental conservation, with a particular interest in marine ecosystems.